Stolen Magic
by Phoenix Estheim
Summary: Harry was born differently. He was born with a rare creature inheritance. With his twin mistaken for the boy-who-lived and his mate accidently banished he is transported into a new world where he is held prisoner for his power. Warning contains slash pairings, good dark side hp , light bashing
1. Chapter 1 The Wrong Twin

Title: Stolen Magic

Summary: Harry was born differently. He was born with a rare creature inheritance. With his twin mistaken for the boy-who-lived and his mate accidently banished he is transported into a new world where he is held prisoner for his power.

Pairings: Mostly undecided, LV/HP, ES/AD, SB/RL, JP/LP, DP/GW, M/LL, pairings may change

Warnings: minor abuse, yaoi (boyxboy relationships), Albus/light bashings, good voldie, creatures

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or the Inheritance Cycle these belong to J. and Christopher Paolini respectively. If I did then these ideas would most likely be in the official books and not on this website.

Chapter 1 – The Wrong Twin

Godric's Hollow – Earth – 31st October 31st 1981

Silently he ghosted down the street, invisible to any that might be watching out for him. Just yesterday he had heard a damming prophecy that would spell the end for him and would result in him losing the war. It couldn't happen; he had to stop it now before the dammed child became too powerful to stop.

He crept closer to the house spying Black through the windows he ghosted down the path towards the front door determined to remove the one who would destroy him.

Quickly he drew his wand and blasted down the door, Black came sprinting out of the living room and almost immediately was swiftly stunned so as to not get in the way.

He stepped over Black's prone body and went up the stairs and into the nursery at the back of the house. As he entered the nursery he immediately spied two forms in the cot and started to examine them as to know which one is the threat.

One, the crying one, was slightly chubby with short curly red hair and chocolate eyes looking like a perfect mix between Lily and James, this was David. He quickly dismissed this one as he could only feel average power from it and it obviously didn't have much intelligence as it was still wailing even though it was obvious no-one was coming.

The second twin was eerily quiet. He just sat there watching him. He gasped slightly at the power and intelligence hidden behind those clear emeralds, slightly hidden behind a shaggy mop of jet black hair that seemed to shimmer slightly in the light cast from the open doorway. The child had pale, unblemished skin that like the hair gave off a slight shimmer in the light. The child was slim and already was losing its baby fat showing off an aristocratic bone structure that seemed to promise power and beauty to the child later on in life.

He knew without a doubt that they child was the one of the prophecy. Yes, it was Harry that would be his downfall and he couldn't let that happen. It was a pity that all that power would go to waste but he had to die or he would risk losing everything.

He raised his wand and pointed it at the child before uttering the two words that would change everything...

"Avada Kedavra"

The green spell shot out of the wand and straight at the child. He smirked slightly and watched as death rushed towards the unsuspecting child. However what happened next shocked him greatly. A bright silver light spilled out of the child and absorbed the curse.

The spell rebounded and shot straight at him he could only stare unmoving as it shot strait at him. He never took his eyes away from those of the dark haired boy, the sorrow in them shocked him as only moments before the spell hit him he realised that he couldn't kill the little one because he was his mate.

As the spell connected with him he vowed to return and collect his mate. The last thing that he remembered before being wrenched from his body was the silent tears flowing down the child's face as he uttered two words...

"I'm sorry"

When Lily and James arrived back at their house an hour later they were shocked to see part of the upstairs destroyed with the dark mark curling in the sky mocking them. They immediately sent word to Albus before attempting to get upstairs to the nursery where they could hear the cries of David.

Just as the managed to reach the cot Albus appeared.

"What happened?"

"We don't know we just got here. Where is Sirius? He was meant to be here. You don't think that he betrayed us to You-Know-Who Albus?"

All Albus could think of was that Voldermort must have taken the bait. It was a genius plan to feed the fake prophecy to Snape. Now because of the attack he had a new spy and Voldermort was gone. The only thing that could have gone better was if that dammed child had died and if Black had been here to take the blame.

When examining the infants he proclaimed that it was David who had defeated Voldermort as he had a small scar in the shape of a V on his forehead while all Harry didn't seem to have any defining marks on him.

James and Lily immediately started fussing over David and seemed to forget that Harry was there at all.

All over wizarding Britain witches and wizards raised their glasses to David Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived.

Well, that's the first chapter for this new fanfic done.

The updates for this will be a bit sporadic so sorry in advance.

Please review, constructive criticism is welcome but NO FLAMES!

Thank you for reading it


	2. Chapter 2 The Summoning of an Innocent

Chapter 2 – The Summoning of an Innocent

Godric's Hollow – Earth – 31st July 1985

It had been nearly four years since that night and looking now at the Potters you wouldn't know that there was another child living there at all. All that you would see would be a caring wife, Lily, a dedicated and strong husband, James and The-Boy-Who-Lived, David. It seemed that everyone had forgotten little Harry who was at that moment lying in a corner of the cellar wondering why he was hated so much.

* * *

Just outside of the wards around the boarder of the cottage lay a large black dog watching the Potters. If they had noticed then they would find this very odd as the dog had been watching the Potters every week for the past four years.

Sirius was disgusted at the change in the Potters. Ever since that night they had become shallow and greedy soaking up anything and everything that they could get for David's fame. The only times he had seen Harry, his godson was either when he was doing numerous chores around the house or when he was being punished for an imaginary fault.

He was very glad that he had not been at the house when the Potter's got home as almost immediately he had been declared a traitor and he wasn't sure if he would have stayed free if he had been there.

All he could remember was a silver light surrounding him and a soft voice telling him to wake up and run. He didn't know who the voice belonged to but something about it made him trust it and he was glad that he did.

Today was the last day that he would be watching the Potters. He was here to try and give his godson a small gift to remember him by before he left with Remus, his mate. They had to see some people because something about that night didn't add up and Dumbledore was starting to scare him with all the talks that he had overheard.

He waited until it got dark then silently crept over to the small opening that lead to the cellar. It was only a small ventilation shaft that was too small for anyone to get into but it was large enough to drop the small pendant down.

The pendant was a small leather strap with a carving of a silver wolf and black dog on it. Inscribed on the back were runes that would hide the pendant from everyone who would wish his godson harm, the runes would also allow him to know where his godson was and most importantly they would allow Harry to contact him. The wrappings around the gift also contained the instructions that would burn shortly after Harry had read them.

Turing back he swiftly disappeared into the night to meet with Remus before moving on. He could only hope that nothing happened to his godson while he was away.

* * *

Urû'baen – Alagaësia – 5067

Galbatorix was annoyed it had been years since Brom had managed to steal one of the dragon eggs, killing Morzan in the process, and they still hadn't managed to find him or that balsted egg. It was as if he had disappeared off the face of the planet.

He still had one dragon egg but he knew that he would need more power to crush those vermin that were the Varden especially as they now had their own dragon egg and with the elves helping. This was the reason why he was searching through the library of Urû'baen where he kept all of the books and manuscripts that had been salvaged from Doru Araeba after the fall of the Riders. He had been searching for years, even before the theft and the deaths of his allies, willing there to be another way to increase his power. It was never enough, every time he found a new spell or potion he would want more.

He had exhausted the Ancient Language and any herbs or other ingredients for potions he was now onto the darker side of magic. He had already discovered shades and managed to bind one to his will but he needed more. There were myths of a ritual that could summon and bind a creature of pure magic to his will. He knew from his extensive research that such a creature was impossible rare and that when summoned it wouldn't come from this world but another.

He had found a few ancient tomes that had mentioned this ritual but had yet to find the one that had the instructions on how to perform it. Again and again he picked up another dusty tome and rifled through it, throwing it away in disgust when it didn't have what he needed in it. Exhausting his pile he threw the last one away, harder than he meant to, and it hit one of the other bookshelves causing the books on it too fall off. Fuming he went to place them back, as it was no use to waste magic on such a meaningless task when he spotted a small black book that he had missed last time.

Picking it up he opened it and felt a surge of triumph. He had finally found it, the way to increase his power massively. He strode out of the library leaving the books scattered about and headed straight for his chambers to properly read the instructions and ready to ritual.

* * *

Godric's Hollow – Earth – 31st October 1985

It had been exactly four years to this day that the incident had happened. Since then Harry had been thinking about that night. He remembered everything including the man with the red eyes that he knew was his. He was sorry at what happened but he had heard the silent promise of return and he was waiting until he came for him.

He hated the way his parents acted but he couldn't hate them. He knew someone was influencing them and that they wouldn't act this way if they weren't. He knew he wasn't a normal child, since he couldn't talk to the other humans he resorted to talking to snakes, they were intelligent and treated him like one of their own. They told him stories of the other snake speaker, how he had been portrayed as evil even though he was just dark (there was a difference but most people don't understand, Harry did though) and they helped to confirm his suspicions that the incident four years ago was not right.

Lost in his thought his hand strayed to the pendant hanging, safely hidden, around his neck. He knew who gave him it and was happy that he hadn't been forgotten by everyone. He had heard James and Lily (he didn't think of them as mum and dad since they had started to neglect him) arguing about Sirius Black, his godfather, and about his supposed betrayal. Harry didn't believe it; something told him that Sirius wasn't to blame. He knew that Sirius could transform into a large black dog and the charm confirmed that it was him. He was glad that he had someone who cared about him.

Harry knew he was different, he could feel something different inside him. When he used magic or was close to any animal or magical object it seemed as if his blood was singing out as if the magic was a physical part of him. At first it had been very distracting but after over three years of sitting and trying to concentrate it he had managed to get some control over the feeling and as a result of that his magic.

He found that he could purposely control his magic to do what he wanted. At first he could only do very little like move leaves but in the year since he had first gained control he had advanced very quickly.

One this that he had quickly grasped was healing although he would have rather that it wasn't needed. Unfortunately his 'parents' didn't notice his magic and when they did they passed it off as David's so he gave up trying to impress them or even get a small bit of attention that didn't come with pain.

Sighing softly he settled down trying to ignore the ache in his body that persisted even after he had healed himself and tried to sleep. His last thoughts before he closed his eyes was his wish that someone would take him away from his prison and that he could be with his mate.

* * *

Somewhere in the Hardarac Desert – Alagaësia – 5067

Everything was ready. He had read the instructions until he could recite them from memory. Finally he could become the most powerful creature in existence. From what he had read the ritual would summon a creature that had the potential to provide almost unlimited power. All he had to do was to summon it and bind it. He wasn't worried about the binding as he had perfected the art of learning true names and using that could force anything to bend to his will. All he needed was time.

Stepping into the smaller rune circle he began chanting. The room was set up with two rune circles, a large one in the centre of the room with the required items arranged within the circle. Some items had been easy to get but others, like the dragon blood which the runes were painted in had been harder. It has taken an enormous amount of will power to force Shuriken to give up a large portion of his blood. It was if Shuriken had known what he was going to do with it.

As he continued to chant the runes started to glow brightly. He could feel the power flowing about the room as it was drawn from the items and himself. As he finished the chanting the power stilled and for a moment he thought that the ritual had failed. Then suddenly the power increased dramatically and a tall pillar of light appeared in the centre of the large rune circle.

When the light faded there was a small form left where the light had been. He moved closer and saw that it appeared to be a small boy. The child had jet black hair, pale porcelain skin and was very small and delicate. He could feel the power radiating off the child and knew that he would have to use an alternate form of binding as he could tell that whatever the creature's true name was he wouldn't be able to find it.

Smiling to himself he started to chant the binding spell. Cutting his palm he drew runes on the child's head, neck, wrists, ankles and heart. As he finished the chant the runes glowed before sinking into the skin leaving only a silver choker round its throat.

He lifted the child into his arms and prepared to return to his palace where he had already created a special room deep underground to hide away his prize.

* * *

Well that's another chapter done. I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for reading and please leave a review. I welcome any ideas and CONSTUCTIVE criticism but any flames will be ignored or used to light a fire in the evening to keep me warm.


	3. Chapter 3 Dreams or Memories

Chapter 3 – Dreams or Memories?

Alagaësia – 5076

Images flashed in front of Murtagh and Thorn's eyes. They saw flashes of the Hadarac Desert. They were flying over it towards a collection of rocks rising up out of the sand. They descended some steps down seep into the earth. After an immeasurable amount of time they found themselves outside a large stone door. Numerous glowing runes covered the door; Murtagh recognised some of them as protection, locking and suppressant runes.

The door rolled back and they found themselves inside a gigantic chamber. There were two distinct parts of it, on one side there was a single green egg. It was on a pedestal which was covered in numerous runes. Surrounding the egg was a glowing shield that stopped anyone or anything getting close.

They turned to see the other side of the room and stopped and stared. There were three circles of glowing runes each circle brighter than the last with the central one almost too bright to look at. Murtagh could identify suppression, protection, containing and others that he had never seen before. However it was what was inside the circles that stunned them.

Inside the circles was a young boy of about 14. He had jet black silky hair that flowed down to the middle of his back. His porcelain skin was painted with even more runes and he seemed to be locked in sleep. His nails were slightly pointed and poking out of the sea of hair were two pointed ears.

Murtagh knew that the boy wasn't human and he didn't seem to be an elf either. There was a fragile innocence that seemed to radiate from the child.

Locked in place Murtagh and Thorn stared at the child. They knew him and of this place but they couldn't remember. Struggling to access their locked memories they didn't realise that the child was starting to move.

Slowly the child's eyes opened revealing shining emerald eyes. They seemed to glow with a suppressed power. He had slit pupil that seemed to draw in anyone who looked at them. As the child's eyes connected with Murtagh's and Thorn's they could feel their minds unlock. Memories rushed back to them. Murtagh remembered coming here to receive Thorn's egg. They both remembered the child.

Suddenly the room started to fade, just before the chamber along with the egg and child faded completely they both heard a melodic voice pierce through the silence.

"Find me, please"

Murtagh opened his eyes to see the stars above Du Weldenvarden with only one thought in his mind.

I must find the child.

* * *

When Murtagh woke up the next morning he looked around to spot Eragon, Saphira, Thorn and Arya sleeping next to him. Amongst the sounds of the forest waking up he remembered the events that led to his and Thorn's freedom from Galbatorix's rule.

During the battle when the Empire assaulted the Varden on the boarders of Surda while he and Eragon fought in the sky he remembered a voice echoing through the Eldunarí. It whispered thing to him even while he and Eragon fought. When Eragon tried to overwhelm his mind he felt the Eldunarí gathering their will to aid him in keeping Eragon out he felt the whisper grow until it encompassed his mind. He felt it changing him slightly, just enough to change his true name and freeing him from Galbatorix. As Eragon was linked with him he felt it too and was there to catch him when he passed out from exhaustion.

He later woke up to find himself in Du Weldenvarden where Eragon had taken him and Thorn along with Arya. When he woke up Eragon, Saphira and Arya explained how he, Thorn and the Eldunarí had broken free of Galbatorix's control and had passed out because of the strain on their minds. Eragon had then gone on the explain how the majority of the Varden believed that they had done it of their own free will and as a result wanted to punish them for their crimes. Eragon explained about while they were unconscious the dwarves had chosen a new king (Orik). Most dwarves where still furious at Murtagh for killing their former king but Orik had forgiven him as he knew that he didn't do it of his own free will and some of the other dwarves where starting to come round.

It had been a couple of months since then and the war was at a stalemate between the Empire and the Varden and he and Thorn had been training with Oromis and Glaedr, after taking the oath, and where much stronger than before.

Coming out from his musings he watched as the others stirred. He readied himself to explain about his dream, which Thorn shared with him, and to convince them to help rescue this child which he had a feeling was the key to this whole war.

* * *

Well that's another chapter done. Hopefully as I have my muse I can update quicker than last time. Sorry for the sporadic updates but I just write it as it comes to me.

Sorry for any spelling mistakes with names.

Please leave a review, they inspire me to keep going.

Phoenix


	4. Chapter 4 The Ryuto

Chapter 4 – The Ryuto

Alagaësia – 5076

Murtagh watched as the others stirred mentally going over what he could say to convince them that it wasn't just a dream. It felt so real and with the missing memories restored he knew where the child was being kept and how to get to him. However he was worried that Galbatorix would have increased the protections around the child as he was obviously important.

'_Don't fret so much Murtagh. I shared your dream and I also remember that place. We should be able to convince the others between us.'_

Murtagh started as Thorn cut through his worrying. Sitting up straighter he gathered his thought and waited until after they had woken up fully and had breakfast, Saphira got very testy when she hadn't eaten. The others noticed that he seemed subdued and watched him throughout breakfast as he seemed to be debating himself.

After they had finished eating Murtagh sat up and began to explain his dream/memory to the others. Every now and again Thorn added a comment but mostly stayed silent and let Murtagh explain. Murtagh told them every detail and sketched all of the runes that he had seen. After he had finished he sat back and let the others think.

Arya got up and paced around the runes that he had drawn. As she observed them her face went from curious to angry and finally as she reached the last set she turned pale and stared horrified at them. Seeing her face Eragon leapt up and slowly walked over to her and slowly put his arms round her and guided her back to where she had been sitting and waited until she came back to herself.

After a while Arya looked up at Murtagh and took a deep breath.

"Those runes, there are many different ones each set has a different purpose. The runes that you saw on the door where strong protection and locking runes to keep people out, there were also masking runes on it to stop people from sensing either the child or egg. The runes around the egg were similar to on the door, as where the outer circle around the child. The middle circle of runes around the child were containment runes to keep him in and they were very strong and powerful. However the final ring of runes, the central ones, were a combination of suppression and draining runes. These are forbidden and will drain the energy from the child and transfer it to Galbatorix. This child is the reason for his power. The child is not human, elf or dwarf he is something far older and stronger. He is a Ryuto."

They sat there stunned at the numerous types of runes needed to contain this child. However at Arya's last statement it they were confused. None of them had heard of a Ryuto. Seeing their confusion Arya went on.

"Ryuto are distant cousins of dragons. They were thought to be extinct but legends had it that they travelled to another place unreachable to others. They have high amount of energy to draw from, it is rumoured that they held power equal to the oldest of dragons. They have an appearance that closely resembles elves but their eyes look like the brightest jewels and their pupils are slit they also have slightly claw like nails. However they come into their true form when they turn 16. They gain scales down their spine and around their eyes, they gain a pair of horns and have large wings that can be retracted back into the body. They also gain a power boost that tends to vary between each Ryuto. They are usually fairly passive preferring to heal than to destroy however the one exception is if their true mate is in danger then noting can stop them until their mate is safe and the threat is eliminated. If Galbatorix has managed to summon one then we will need to rescue him as soon as possible."

They sat stunned at Arya's explanation. They couldn't believe that such a being existed. They had to rescue him as soon as possible. After the shock wore off they gathered round the drawings and maps and started to plan how to reach the child. While Eragon, Murtagh and Thorn focused on how they would get there and get out Arya and Saphira focused on finding easy to negate the numerous runes surrounding both the egg and child as they realised that this was the best chance to liberate the remaining egg as well, however the focus would be on the child as there was no way that Galbatorix would endanger the egg but the child was another story. If he came into his inheritance while in those rune circles then there was a good chance that the power would completely transfer to Galbatorix and the child would not survive.

This continued on for many days until they finally had a concrete plan and many alternates in case anything went wrong. The night before they were due to fly out Murtagh lay next to Thorn his mind firmly on the child, he was determined that no matter what they would rescue him.

* * *

Another chapter finished. I would like to thank everyone that reviewed, your reviews keep me inspired.

Phoenix


	5. Chapter 5 The Rescue

Chapter 5 – The Rescue

Alagaësia – 5076

It had taken more time than they had thought to be ready to go on the rescue mission. After studying the runes Arya had managed to find ways round the numerous protections without setting off any of the traps or alerts. They were sure that they would be able to get in and out of the chamber quickly and without too much effort however the main problem would be to disable the wards around the child without harming him. Eventually Arya had come up with a combination of a spell and a ward that would counteract the wards around the child and negate them.

Today would be the day they would rescue the child. Murtagh was ready for anything and knew that he would do anything to protect the child. Checking that they had everything for the last time Eragon signalled from the back of Saphira with Arya seated behind him. As one they took off and headed for the place where the child was held along with the last dragon egg.

As they flew Murtagh reviewed the plan multiple times in his head until Thorn told him to calm down as his constant worrying was getting annoying, Thorn reassured him that they would rescue both the child and the egg although if something did happen the child would be their first priority.

Eventually they reached the rocks concealing the entrance to the chamber. Quickly landing and dismounting Arya went ahead of them to disable the first of many traps. This one was simple and she had the ward down in under a minute. They had to leave both Saphira and Thorn outside to guard the entrance as the passageway was too small for them to fit in.

Slowly they advanced down the passageway disabling each ward as they came to it. After numerous wards and many traps they eventually reached the door of the inner chamber. This was one of the main obstacles not only was it covered in wards, the door itself was about 2 foot thick and mage of solid stone. Each of them had a task to do and without speaking to each other they got to work on a different part of the door. Murtagh was responsible for negating the locking and protective wards, Eragon was responsible for negating the traps and wards that would attack them if they tried to open the door and Arya was responsible for disabling the runes that suppressed power inside the chamber and to disable any wards that would alert Galbatorix to their interference.

After almost an hour of work the final ward was disabled and they were able to enter the chamber. It was exactly as Murtagh had seen it. The child appeared to be asleep in the centre of the numerous rune circles. After double checking that the wards where the same and there were no surprises Arya and Murtagh got to work on dispelling each rune circle while Eragon worked on releasing the egg from its prison.

Murtagh worked seamlessly with Arya, while she chanted the numerous spells that she had created for the purpose of destroying each rune in the circles he would lay the runes that they had crafted in precise patterns around the circles depending on what rune Arya was targeting. On the other side of the chamber Eragon had a slightly easier time as there was only one set of runes which formed the ward and none of them would harm the egg inside them.

The only sound in the chamber was that of Arya and Eragon chanting while Murtagh was silent. They knew that each second was crucial as any moment Galbatorix could be alerted to their presence in the chamber and that their best chance of succeeding was to work swiftly and efficiently to minimise their time in this place.

Murtagh could feel the magical pressure building up in the chamber as the wards seemed to be fighting against Arya's chanting. Eventually the last ward shattered and Murtagh rushed forward and scooped up the child at the same time as Eragon managed to dispel the ward around the egg. Quickly they rushed out of the chamber with their previous cargo towards where Saphira and Thorn were waiting to take off at a moment's notice.

They reached the entrance after their blind dash and scrambled onto Spahira and Thorn who immediately took off a fled towards the safety of Du Weldenvarden. Throughout the flight back Murtagh alternated between scanning the skies behind them for any sign of Galbatorix and checking the unconscious child that he held in front of him.

It took a seemingly long time to reach Du Weldenvarden but they reached the safety of the forest just as the sun started to set. They landed where they had set up camp before they left that morning feeling that it had taken a week rather than the day. Murtagh gently dismounted from Thorn cradling the child and laid him next to the fire that Eragon had started. Breathing a sigh of relief he studied the child and was struck by how young he appeared. The child hadn't stirred once since they had rescued him but all of them were too exhausted to attempt to reach the child's mind.

Settling down next to the fire with the child sheltered between Saphira and Thorn who felt very protective of him he hoped that they would be able to rouse the child from the state he was in and that he wouldn't be terrified when he awoke.

* * *

Sorry that the chapter took so long to publish. I had a small case of writers block and I have had little time to write with exams and interviews for uni. I should be able to write more regularly from now on.

Please leave a review each one in appreciated.

Phoenix


	6. Chapter 6 Protecting the Hatchling

Chapter 6 – Protecting the Hatchling

Alagaësia – 5076

Murtagh woke up the next morning to the unusual sight of Saphira sleeping apart from the rest, normally she would be curled round Eragon but she was sleeping tightly curled round something which looked a lot like both the egg and the child. Sleepily he got up and went over to check on the child and the egg but when he approached Saphira she suddenly woke up and snarled at him. She had an animalistic look in her eye and he quickly backed off before she attacked him. He had never seen her act like this and thought that Eragon should deal with her.

It took a while to wake up Eragon, he was a realy heavy sleeper, eventually after a large amount of ice cold water Eragon was awake although he was unhappy and wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep. He explained the situation to both Eragon and Arya (she had woken up during the shouting stage) and while Arya stood there in silence Eragon slowly approached Saphira who was eyeing them distrustfully. As Eragon got closer she snarled at him but unlike with Murtagh she didn't seem like she would immediately attack him. Eragon stopped a short distance from her and attempted to sooth her with calming words.

While Eragon attempted that Murtagh decided to sort out breakfast as Arya seemed too deep in thought to consider it, he got out the normal food for Arya and found some leftover meat for him and Eragon. He rekindled the fire, which had gone out overnight, and slowly cooked breakfast while waiting for Arya to come out of her thoughts as Eragon looked like he would be calming Saphira for a while.

He had just finished breakfast when Arya suddenly gave out a soft exclamation,

"I think I know why Saphira is acting so wild and aggressive, from what I remember the only reason why paired dragon would act like this is when they are overcome with strong maternal feelings. My guess is that the absence of a protector for the egg we rescued and the threat of Galbatorix triggered her instincts, however I'm not sure why she is like this with the child as well."

They sat in silence and pondered over this mystery to the sound of Eragon's soothing words and the occasional growl from Saphira. While they were thinking they didn't notice Thorn waking up, he observed the situation and quickly skimmed through Murtagh's thoughts.

"The child is special, as Arya said a while ago the Ryuto are closely related to dragons, they are revered, if one is found by a dragon before they go through their inheritance then that dragon will guard the child like they were their own hatchling. The Ryuto are rare and every hatchling must be protected until they go through their inheritance and find their true mate. I can teel, like Saphira, that this child is not from here; Galbatorix must have summoned it from its home and away from the place where its mate is. Eragon will be able to calm her down it will just take some time for her to come out of this protective state, at the moment her instincts are on high alert as we have only just rescued the child"

Thorn's voice cut through Murtagh and Arya's thoughts and as he explained Saphira's behaviour concerning the child it started to make sense. Hearing that there was nothing that they could do to help Eragon they settled down by the fire and waited for Eragon to finish calming Saphira down enough that they could get close enough to the child to examine him.

* * *

Eventually Eragon managed to get Saphira to calm down enough so that they could all approach her, if it was only Eragon it would have taken much less time seeing as he was her rider but it took a lot longer for Eragon to convince Sahpira that Arya, Murtagh and Thorn could also approach, with her instincts on full she didn't recognise them as friends. Slowly they approached conscious of Saphira watching them closely. Slowly Arya picked up the egg and examined it for any damage, satisfied that there was no damage to the egg she went to put it back when she felt a small shock of magic run from the egg to her hand. Startled she cradled it in her arms and stared at it in awe, she had been chosen to be the partner of the dragon inside the egg.

Saphira seemed to sense this change and gazed at her, she seemed to be scanning Arya to find out if she was worthy of being the rider to her hatchling. Whatever Sahpira was looking for she found as she gave a small nod to Arya and let her take the egg to cradle by the fire. Eragon and Murtagh stared at the exchange puzzled until they worked out that Arya was the dragon's rider. Seeing that Arya was occupied with the egg and that Eragon was busy keeping Saphira calm Murtagh approached the child and slowly examined him for any injuries. Apart from the fact that he was still unconscious there appeared to be nothing wrong with the child.

Murtagh backed away after checking the child before Saphira had decided that he had been too close for too long, he didn't want to get on the wrong side of a mother dragon, he liked being alive. He went over and sat next to Thorn and discussed what they would do next and what might be wrong with the child.

* * *

When he awoke next morning it was to discover a sleeping Arya with an emerald green baby dragon curled in her arms and the mark of the rider on the palm. Looking around he saw that Eragon was awake with Saphira and she was still cured round the child. Once again he got up and made breakfast while waiting for Arya to wake up so that she could examine the child's mind. He knew that she would be best for the task as she would have a gentleness to her touch that both he and Eragon lacked.

After they had had breakfast and Arya had woken up they sat round the fire debating as to what to do. Arya told them that she had yet to name her new partner as although she knew that the baby was male he wasn't old enough for them to share a connection where words could be used to express themselves, at the moment all she received from the hatchling was his feelings and what he wanted at the time.

After a brief explanation of what Murtagh though Arya should do next with the Ryuto child Arya agreed that it would be best for one of them to attempt to reach the child's mind and that she would be the best one for the job. Slowly she approached Saphira and with Eragon's help conveyed what she would be doing to the child that she still had in her protective embrace. After a while Saphira agreed to let Arya explore the child's mind and Arya settled down next to the child and slowly slipped into the outer layer of his thoughts.

* * *

Well that's another chapter finished. Sorry for the wait I've had a busy few weeks. Hope you like it, please leave a review.

Phoenix


	7. Chapter 7 Reaching Out

Chapter 7 – Reaching out

Arya slipped into the outer layers of the child's mind, looking around all she could see was endless white mist stretching in all directions. There seemed to be no end to the mist and having no obvious way to go she started to walk forward. Time seemed to pass very slowly as she continued to walk through the mist, there were times when she thought that she saw something in the mist but it always disappeared quickly making her wonder if it was there at all. This child had a mind like none other she had seen usually she would have encountered something by now but all she could find was endless mist.

Suddenly a towering wall of stone rose out of the mist, blocking the way forward and the way back. The walls were impenetrable and there was no way out, haring a rumbling sound behind her Arya whirled round and came face to face with a small dragon. This dragon was different to Saphira and Thorn, it was small only reaching her waist when standing but its body was longer than normal. It looked a lot like a large snake but it had two small ears and horns that curved back along its head and four legs. The dragon had two feathery wings that sprouted just behind its front legs and a long main that went from between its horns to the tip of its tail. The dragon was ice blue with white wings, a darker blue mane. The dark blue eyes showed a great intelligence but had no pupils, it appeared to be blind.

'_Who are you? Why are you here?'_

The dragon's mouth didn't move but Arya heard the voice speak straight into her mind. The voice was old, wise and sounded male.

"My name is Arya, I entered the mind of a young boy that we rescued from Galbatorix in hope that we could find out why he has not awakened. Who are you?"

'_My name is Akiva. I am the guardian of this child. Thank you for rescuing him. We are not from here, my child was summoned form another world by Galbatorix and he bound our powers, draining them for his use. There was nothing I could do to protect my child so I helped him to escape into his mind and I guarded him from Galbatorix's attempts to infiltrate it and take control. I know that I can trust you, your soul is pure and I can sense that you mean no harm. I can wake up my child but it will take time to convince him that we are safe.'_

With those words Arya felt herself being ejected from the child's mind. Opening her eyes she found herself in the same position as she had started with Saphira staring at her. Looking up at the sky it seemed that she had been in the child's mind for half the day.

"What did you see? Will the child wake up?"

Saphira's voice broke through her thoughts and looking back at Saphira Arya could see the worry in her eyes. Looking around she could see that Eragon, Thorn and Murtagh were both worried about the child and what she saw in his mind as well.

"The child has retreated deep into his mind, I couldn't find him. However I met the child's guardian, there is a strange dragon called Akiva that guards this child from harm, she told me that she would convince the child to wake up as she could tell that I meant no harm. For now we can do nothing but wait"

With that the others went back to what they were doing and Saphira once again curled round the child intent on protecting him from the outside while his guardian protected his mind.

* * *

Sorry for the short chapter and the long wait. I have been busy with college work, exams and uni applications. Unfortunately I am also having trouble with getting the story to flow. It may be a while until the next chapter but I should be able to write them faster when I get to the summer hols.

Sorry and thanks for being patient with me.

Phoenix Estheim


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